Illuminate

East of England

Project name: Confidence to Progress

Project overview

Our project aims to help those with mental health problems get back into work. We plan to do this by engaging with businesses as part of a mentoring scheme.

We will engage in partnerships with businesses, where the business will put forward employees to act as ‘mentors’ to the charity’s beneficiaries. Mentors and mentees will be matched and embark upon a six-week programme. Training and support is provided throughout to both the mentors and beneficiaries.

The aim is two-fold - to educate businesses on mental health, and provide support to those trying to get back into work. By educating the mentors on mental health through first-hand experience, this will allow them to educate their organisations in order to reduce stigma, raise awareness and make organisations more open to employing people with mental ill health. With regards to the beneficiaries who are currently too terrified to consider work, the aim is for them to have reduced anxiety about returning to work, more exposure to a working environment, re-frame their perspectives and become more likely to pursue work. This mentoring scheme will run on a quarterly basis, over a two-year period.

How the £50,000 grant will help

It will make a huge difference to our work and most importantly to our beneficiaries’ lives. 80% of beneficiaries want to work, but most see the stigma surrounding mental health as a barrier. Research shows that working just one day a week has a material difference on mental wellbeing. We have already piloted the work, and it has made a significant impact on the beneficiaries, mentors and businesses involved. 60% of beneficiaries found work within six months, the rest are actively job-hunting and in our most recent project, which is wrapping up soon, one has already found work. Having longer term funding means we can truly embed this work into what we offer and meet the needs and requests from beneficiaries. Two years of funding means we can get this fully established and evidenced.